Wildflower meadow: every neighborhood should have one!

I see them every year in the big-box home improvement stores: large bags or even small buckets of seed mixes that promise an instant wildflower meadow. The idea is fantastic, and yet how many such meadows have you actually encountered? I bet very few.

I don’t know how the meadow you see in this post came about, but I noticed it last spring. Eventually it was mowed down and then looked like so many other empty lots you drive by in your everyday life. But now it’s back and it’s better than ever.

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Clearly whoever owns this lot—I’m sure not if it belongs to the city or is part of the house on the corner—let the flowers go to seed last summer. They then lay dormant throughout our abnormally dry fall and winter and made a riotous return after the rains in March.

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It’s impossible to walk or drive by this lot and not have a smile on your face.

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There are California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), field poppies (Papaver rhoeas), blue flax (Linum usitatissimum), scarlet flax (Linum grandiflorum ‘Rubrum’) and I’m sure a few others.

I wish more empty lots would be turned into wildflower meadows instead of ceding them to the relentless army of weeds that comes marching through every year. I’m mighty tempted to do some seed bombing this fall to get the revolution started!

Comments

  1. They do look great like that! When a lot of the town councils here decided to cut back on maintenance of public greenery (summer bedding displays etc) most of them opted to have wildflower meadow planting instead and I have to say most did look very good during the summer.

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    1. What a great idea! I wish municipalities in the U.S. did that as well.

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  2. And how cool is that someone painted your name and blog address on the fence!? (hahaha)

    This is beautiful, I think I'd be tempted to pick a few flowers when I pass by...

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    1. There are so many flowers, it's OK to pick a few. If I had a wildflower meadow, I would want passers-by to take a few flowers home with them.

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  3. I have a vacant lot at the end of my street, and I have access to seed mixes. On a mission.

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  4. So wonderful! Hope it lasts for more than a couple of weeks.

    I actually did a bit of guerrilla gardening on an empty parcel of land near me -- I'll be interested to see what becomes of it later this year. :)

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  5. Those look so pretty! Yes every neighborhood should have one!

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  6. Exuberant! Does it not give you energy just driving by? I can never seem to find this type of mix, just the cottage garden types with larkspur and more English types. I'll spread some color if I ever find the right stuff!

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